Helping Those in Houston

As many of you know, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast, bringing horrific damage, including record setting rains and flooding in Houston. Even though my family watched as more than 40” of rain fell on their homes, only a few of them had flooding enter their houses. Tens of thousands were not so fortunate, including many in the same neighborhoods where my family lives. These people need our assistance. While many of you may have already contributed to the recovery efforts through the Red Cross or other organizations, what you may not know is that the Presbyterian Church (USA) has a highly-rated disaster relief program.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is a nationally recognized disaster response ministry that was noted by the New York Times as having one of the highest percentages of every dollar received going directly towards work projects. PDA works through the presbyteries and congregations in affected areas in order to provide assistance in the most effective way that they can. They work to set up interfaith partnerships and determine when and how volunteer teams would best be used in recovery efforts, focusing not only on immediate response but also long-term rebuilding. On top of all of this, the Red Cross looks to PDA when they are in need of people to provide spiritual and emotional support in disaster affected areas

PDA is preparing to send a national response team to Texas once it is safe to do so. These folks will be on the ground meeting with people and assessing damages as early as possible, so that the organization’s disaster relief can begin and be as effective as possible. It is currently estimated that PDA will be making a three to five-year commitment to the hurricane affected areas.